Drawing From Life

One of the things I always enjoy is drawing from life. While I am thankful for all the modern tools we have at our disposal such as cameras, nothing compares to actually sitting down in front of an object in real life with natural light, studying it with a curious eye, capturing that moment of a gesture, and hinting to it’s full form unseen from the viewer.  


Whether in graphite, charcoal or pen and ink, drawing the subtle reflective light of an object or expressing it’s form thru an additive or subtractive layering of value and linework increases my appreciation of the object and in turn informs my paintings.   There is an intimacy formed between the act of drawing and the object drawn.  


This drawing of cotton in a mason jar was in preparation for a commissioned piece.  In drawing the cotton, I observed details such as the zig zag nature of the stems and the burs that hold each lock of cotton in place.